The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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    Loyola girls bball

December 1, 2009

Crusaders looking inside this season

Loyola hoping not to rely too much on 3-pointers

By Chad Courrier

MANKATO — Last season, the Mankato Loyola girls basketball team shot too many 3-pointers, in coach Kari Koester’s opinion, but there will be more of a focus on getting the ball inside.

Much of that responsibility falls on senior point guard Taylor Dosh.

“I worked the whole offseason to try make myself better and make the team better,” Dosh said. “Shooting, ball-handling … I have a better idea of my teammates’ strengths. I’m a lot more comfortable.”

The Crusaders open the season Friday with a nonconference game against Martin Luther at Fitzgerald gym. Loyola was 8-11, 5-11 in the Gopher Conference, last season and will rely on the leadership of seniors Dosh, Lizzy Karp and Kristy Rotchadl.

“They’ll be our leaders on the floor,” Koester said.

Dosh, a two-year starter, averaged 6.0 points and 1.8 assists, which led the team. Karp and Rotchadl are both in their third seasons as starters. Karp averaged 6.5 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds, and Rotchadl averaged 11 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals. She raised her scoring average to 16.3 points during conference games.

Laura Kottschade, a 6-foot-2 junior center, provides the post presence, averaging 5.3 points and 7.0 rebounds last season.

“We’ll have more of an inside-outside threat,” Koester said. “We lived and died by the 3-pointer, and most of the time, we died by it.”

Junior Hannah Gaspar fills out the starting lineup, but junior Miranda Wolf, sophomore Jamie Menke and freshman Jesse VanBlarcom will all get playing time. Sophomore Meghan Hendrickson will return soon after recovering from a leg injury suffered during the cross country season.

“I think last year, we fell short of our expectations,” Koester said. “We just never seemed to click, and we struggled all year. I think we know what to expect this year, and the girls are determined to be successful.”

Koester said the goals for this season are to improve each day, win at least a couple of games in the playoffs and never get outworked.

“We have more chemistry and flow this year,” Dosh said. “I’m very excited. I’ve been waiting to get going since the last game of last season.”

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